Domaine Evremond English Sparkling

Domaine Evremond – Opened April 2025
Project Domaine Evremond began in 2015 and is the realisation of a shared dream between lifelong friends Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and Patrick McGrath MW, founder of their UK Agent, Hatch Mansfield, to craft exceptional English Sparkling Wine of the highest quality. With a passion for all things British and a long history with the county of Kent, Pierre-Emmanuel had always dreamed of creating something special here based on the values of friendship.

In 2013 Patrick was intrigued enough by the English sparkling wine scene that he decided he wanted one in their portfolio, and began conversations with a number of English producers. But Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger had other ideas: let’s do what we did with Korbrand in the USA, he suggested. Patrick was tasked with finding the land, and assisted by English wine expert Stephen Skelton, with specific search criteria (chalk soils, below 100 m altitude, and S or SW facing) they ended up choosing part of the Gaskain farm in Chilham, Kent, west of Canterbury.

This marked the first time that a Champagne house had invested in the United Kingdom with the ambition of producing a top quality sparkling wine. Domaine Evremond launched at Westminster Abbey in 2015, making English Sparkling Wine history.

 

The Domaine
Following an 18 month search with exacting criteria, the ideal site for Domaine Evremond was found close to the picturesque village of Chilham in Kent with its reputation as ‘The Garden of England’. It was here the first vines were planted in 2017, followed by the first full harvest in 2019. With the perfect combination of free draining chalk soils, shallow topsoil straight into solid chalk, south facing slopes and an ideal altitude of 50 to 90m, the original site of Stone Stile Farm’s apple and pear orchards. Situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty the winery, along with the Cellar Door, is located at the heart of the estate. Designed by a leading French architect Giovanni Pace and construction by Arkay an expert UK team, built with sustainability at the fore, Domaine Evremond’s brand new estate building, two-thirds underground, boasts an exterior design that ‘seamlessly integrates’ with the rolling Kent Downs.

Domaine Evremond purchased Stone Stile Farm from the Gaskain family in 2015 as the first step in establishing Domaine Evremond. Gaskains Ltd is a highly experienced, multi-generational UK fruit farm that is also one of the UKs largest apple growers. Mark Gaskain (Managing Director of Gaskains Ltd) and Jason Streatfield (Farm & Vineyard Manager) are responsible for the day to day growing operations in the vineyards and work passionately alongside the Taittinger team, sharing their knowledge of horticulture as well as the local land and climate to ensure that together they deliver first class fruit to the winery every year.

 

The Gaskains were predominantly apple farmers, but they’d diversified to soft fruits and had their fingers burned dealing with the supermarkets, so they put some of their farm on the market to raise some capital. In 2014 the new Taittinger/Hatch Mansfield venture, now called Evremond, purchased land, they announced the partnership to the press in 2015, and then the first plantings were 21 hectares of vines that went into the ground in 2017. Then in 2019 more Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were planted. The estate now encompasses 125 hectares of land with 60 hectares planted with grapevine, featuring Pinot Noir (45%), Chardonnay (45%) and Pinot Meunier (10%). The additional 65ha are woodland, meadows and apple and pear orchards.

Domaine Evremond is part of ‘The Wine Garden of England’. A group of industry pioneers who represent the diversity of top quality wineries in Kent. The nine wineries are collectively committed to creating a world-class wine trail and visitor experience in Kent.

 

Now Kent is home to 120 vineyards and 1400 hectares of vines, and one-quarter of English wine comes from Kent grapes. During the growing season it has the highest number of sunshine hours, and it’s the third driest area in the UK, after Essex and the Isle of Wight. From Taittinger’s point of view it is ideally located, 3.5 hours door to door for their chef de cave Alexandre Ponnavoy and viticulturist Christelle Rinville.

In 2021 the first blend was carefully crafted, bottled and left to gently mature for 3 years. The next key milestone, reached in 2022, saw the ground prepared for the estate’s winery and Cellar Door. The momentous journey continued in autumn 2024 with the opening of the Domaine Evremond winery for its first harvest. The release of the first edition Domaine Evremond ‘Classic Cuvée’ is now live.